https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness.atomBrainSharp - Fitness2018-02-04T14:45:00+00:00BrainSharphttps://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/6-health-benefits-of-saunas-for-athletes2018-02-04T14:45:00+00:002018-02-04T14:46:52+00:006 Health Benefits Of Saunas for AthletesMarios Kokolakis
Saunas have been around for many years but most recently can be found in spas and fitness centres across multiple countries. Most people spend time in the sauna as it feels relaxing after an intense day at work or a workout session. Saunas, apart from providing relaxation, can also produce a number of different health benefits. There have been multiple studies in the past few years that demonstrate the benefits regular sauna use can deliver to our health.

]]>
Saunas have been around for many years but most recently can be found in spas and fitness centres across multiple countries. Most people spend time in the sauna as it feels relaxing after an intense day at work or a workout session. Saunas, apart from providing relaxation, can also produce a number of different health benefits. There have been multiple studies in the past few years that demonstrate the benefits regular sauna use can deliver to our health.

What happens to your body in the sauna?

When we enter a sauna, our endocrine system responds to the heat by increasing different circulating hormones (R). When we sleep or fast, our growth hormone increases which also happens during a session in the sauna. Beta-endorphins, which are responsible for the pleasurable effects of a sauna, also increase. Levels of norepinephrine also increase, causing an increase in heart rate (R).

What are the Health Benefits of Saunas?

The effects of a session in the sauna include a range of physiological health benefits like promoting cardiovascular health, improving athletic performance and fitness levels as well as aiding in detoxification.

Promotes Cardiovascular Health

Research suggests that saunas can be beneficial for people with cardiovascular disease. A study with 2,315 middle-aged participants showed that people going to the sauna four to seven times per week had a lower risk of sudden cardiac death and fatal cardiovascular disease, compared to those who went two to three times per week or less (R).

Several studies, in addition to the above, have also shown many cardiovascular benefits of regular sauna use:

Improves Lipid Profiles

Regular sauna use has been shown to improve lipid profiles. It was seen that healthy young men experienced a decrease in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol after three weeks of sauna baths. Healthy young women also saw a decrease in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (R).

Enables Muscle Growth

Saunas put your body to a certain amount of heat stress. As a result, your body releases heat shock proteins. Heat shock proteins aid in repairing damaged cells in the body. The higher the availability of proteins in the body, the greater the chances for muscle repair and growth; great for athletes wanting to increase muscle mass.

Improves Fitness Levels and Athletic Performance

Having many cardiovascular benefits, sauna use can also increase athletic performance. A study including athletes from different sport disciplines showed that runners had better endurance and higher plasma red-cell volume after regular sauna baths. Cyclists also experienced an increase plasma volume and better heart rate recovery after a cycling test (R).

Muscle Recovery

Tight muscles are common among athletes. Intense workout sessions like weightlifting or boxing can even result in muscle tension and inflammation. Saunas can aid in releasing muscle tension and easing pain. In addition, there is an increase in blood flow levels promoting health oxygen flow in muscles which is key to muscle recovery.

Aids in Detoxification

There is a number of small studies that included regular sauna use as part of detoxification therapies. For example, police officers exposed to methamphetamine were treated by combining exercise, nutritional supplementation, and sauna therapy (R). Women with occupational exposure to solvents improved after multiple sessions in the sauna. Using saunas to aid in detoxification is a promising option, but further exploration into understanding the mechanisms is needed.

The physiological effects of regular exercise such as increased heart rate, acute metabolic rate, and oxygen consumption are also some of the benefits resulted from regular sauna use (R). Incorporating sauna baths to your wellness routine can further produce great results to your health.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/athletes-8-ways-to-increase-your-average-reaction-time2018-01-20T13:49:00+00:002018-01-27T16:52:37+00:00Athletes - 8 Ways To Increase Your Average Reaction TimeMarios Kokolakis
All sports require agility and quick response to certain factors. The difference between .2 and .3 of a second in reaction speed is what may decide the champion. A football player will need to quickly estimate his opponent’s next move and dribble accordingly; a baseball player will anticipate the ball’s course and move his or her posture accordingly; a martial arts fighter will defend and counter attack instantly after being hit. Independently of the sport, concentration, focus and quick momentum are a must for anyone that wants to win, or rise to the first place.

]]>
All sports require agility and quick response to certain factors. The difference between .2 and .3 of a second in reaction speed is what may decide the champion. A football player will need to quickly estimate his opponent’s next move and dribble accordingly; a baseball player will anticipate the ball’s course and move his or her posture accordingly; a martial arts fighter will defend and counter attack instantly after being hit. Independently of the sport, concentration, focus and quick momentum are a must for anyone that wants to win, or rise to the first place.

Improve The Speed of Reaction to Different Factors

Average human reaction time itself is a natural ability, but overall response times can be improved by repetitive practice. Athletes need to examine the type of skill they want to master and decide upon the movements or series of movements they want to speed up.

Focus on practicing the 8 following ways in order to increase your average reaction time; they will help you master your movements and excel in what you are set out to do:

Detect and anticipate signs - in a sprint start for example, the sprinter would need to focus on the starter's voice and the sound of the gun while cancelling out the background noise.

Understand and predict relevant signs - a tennis player may want to learn how to analyse body language during a serve.

Improve decision making – a fighter may have to practise defending all combos that follow a specific hit.

Improve change in focus – a football play will need to able to switch quickly from concentration on the opponent to concentration on the field of play.

Control stress and anxiety levels – stress and anxiety are major factors for lowering average reaction times as lack in clarity of thought can negatively impact the body’s movements.

Stay focused and motivated – nothing will help you more than sheer dedication and motivation to win. Think as a winner, become a winner.

Warm up – your sensory and nervous systems will be ready to transmit information and help your muscles to quickly act.

Take 2 capsules of Fused Reaction™ daily – one capsule in the morning and one before training will help you stay focused and motivated, giving you clarity of mind and staying on top of your game.

6 Reaction Speed Drills to Improve Average Reaction Times

There are certain reaction speed drills categorised by the nature of the sport that can help athletes improve their reaction time to a stimulus. The drills may cover the control of an object (e.g. football or hockey puck) where the signal for the reaction to happen can be visual (e.g. movement of an object) or a specific sound (e.g. voice or starter’s gun). The following examples are different ways that can help you increase your average reaction times when related to an external stimulus.

Get up and sprint 20 meter to 30 meter to a specific point

Event: Event or sport where pure speed over the ground is important.Starting position: Lying on the ground on the back or front.Command: Voice or sound.Notes: The relevant point could be the coach who moves from place to place so that the athlete only has the sound of the coach to initially identify where the coach is positioned.

Sprint in the direction of the command while controlling the ball, and then slowly return

Event:Sports where the athlete wants to get better at controlling a ball.Starting position: Slow running controlling the ball.Command: Voice command of “left”, “right”, “back” or “forward”.Notes: Repeat the drill for 5 to 7 times and then go back to the starting point to pass the ball to the next athlete.

Improve average reaction time to the starting gun

Event: Race where the athlete wants to improve starting reaction time.Starting position: Standing tall and relaxed.Command: Blow whistle or clap hands – this should happen from behind the athlete.Action: Try performing all of the following together:

Quickly bring the right knee up to a position where the thigh is parallel with the ground, the lower leg is vertical to the ground and the foot is flexed

The arms are brought to the sprint position

The athlete rises up onto the toes of the left foot

Notes: The right foot would need to be placed in the rear block of the starting blocks on a sprint start; if it is the left foot then change the leg action above.

Sprint and catch the ball before it bounces for the second time

Event: Sports where a ball is involved.Starting position: Use a static position which can be standing, sitting or lying down.Command: Coach stands in front of the athlete dropping a ball from shoulder height.Notes: Need to adjust where the coach stands to make the exercise most difficult and most effective. The further away the athlete is, the better.

Improving average reaction time and speed requires determination and repetitive practice while following a healthy diet accompanied by natural supplements intake. If there is a sport or activity you want to excel in, crystal clear focus and optimised average reaction time are a must. Fused Reaction™is a natural supplement scientifically designed to deliver powerful cognitive and excellent athletic performance. Improve your focus, attention span and reaction time naturally and beat your competition!

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/3-reasons-female-athletes-should-get-quality-training2017-12-22T17:35:00+00:002018-01-23T17:36:03+00:003 Reasons Female Athletes Should Get Quality TrainingMarios Kokolakis
It’s a new era for female participation in sports and strength training, with the number of female athletes having increased tremendously over the past couple of decades. Female athletes and their coaches seem very enthusiastic about the opportunity to perform quality training, as historically female athletes hadn’t been that engaged in structured strength and conditioning program. Nowadays, more and more women are excited about following a strength training program, considering it’s designed specifically for them.

]]>
It’s a new era for female participation in sports and strength training, with the number of female athletes having increased tremendously over the past couple of decades. Female athletes and their coaches seem very enthusiastic about the opportunity to perform quality training, as historically female athletes hadn’t been that engaged in structured strength and conditioning program. Nowadays, more and more women are excited about following a strength training program, considering it’s designed specifically for them.

Nowadays, every sport, coach and fitness administrator focuses on ensuring equality among their athletes by making sure that all sport disciplines get a fair budget as well spreading the resources evenly across men’s and women’s sports. Considering that the necessary equipment is existent in the facility female athletes train, there are 3 main reasons as to why they should adopt a strength and conditioning program while training for their main sport discipline.

Reasons as to why Female Athletes should Strength Train

Female Athletes and Injuries

Looking at it from a physiological point of view, men and women respond the same to strength training. Squats for example will have the same effect on a male athlete as with a female one, thus a strength training program could be similar for both men and women.

Considering however that women have a greater hip-to-knee angle (Q-angle) than men do, this can be a factor of increasing the risk of an injury. Most of the injuries that can occur on a female athlete are due to non-contact situations like decelerating or landing. These however can be prevented with proper strength and conditioning training.

Consistent participation in a strength training program can be deemed as the best form of injury prevention for female athletes, which also applies for male ones. If you are an athlete engaged only in bodyweight programs, then you may want to consider getting stronger in order prevent injuries.

Be part of the Weight Room

Even though the population of women in sports has dramatically increased over the years, the weight room may still feel like it’s a boys-only place or activity. Many coaches around the world can see the mental difficulty in women to actively join the weight room and properly strength train.

Even though every situation is unique, there are several potential factors that may be causing this. Those can be an unreasonable fear of becoming bulky, the belief that strength training is only for men and even a lack of knowledge or comfort in the weight room, which can all contribute to women’s reluctance to adopt a strength training program.

All training facilities, coaches and personal trainers should offering female-specific training programs and equipment as this can encouraging athletes be an active member of the weight-room community and culture. Having specific training programs for everyone will instantly mean that (all) athletes are valued the same and are equal.

Gain a Competitive Advantage

As so many female athletes don’t follow a proper strength training program, the ones that do, have a huge competitive advantage. In other words, a strength training program can create even more opportunities for success on the field, court, or pitch for female athletes or in general, women’s teams.

While a properly implemented strength and conditioning program helps all athletes, both male and female athletes can improve their physical qualities for a safer competition.

Regardless of whether you are a female or male athlete, you would need a strength training program that provides more than just bodyweight exercises. Independently of what type of training routine you choose to follow, clear focus, concentration and motivation are a must in achieving your goals. OurFused Reaction™ brain supplement was created with natural ingredients to boost your cognitive and athletic performance.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/holiday-special-tips-for-athletes2017-12-21T22:10:00+00:002018-01-27T17:17:22+00:00Holiday Special – Tips for AthletesMarios Kokolakis
Athletes of different magnitude and sport discipline prepare themselves for practices, intense training sessions, competitions, and entire competitive seasons. Holiday season where everyone around will be indulging to all kinds of food should not be an exception. In this case, holiday season could also be referred to aseating season.

Holiday season kicks off with Halloween candy, continues with Thanksgiving and ends with numerous parties, enormous fests, alcohol and even a selection of deserts throughout December (or if you prefer, during Christmas time).

]]>
Athletes of different magnitude and sport discipline prepare themselves for practices, intense training sessions, competitions, and entire competitive seasons. Holiday season where everyone around will be indulging to all kinds of food should not be an exception. In this case, holiday season could also be referred to as eating season.

Holiday season kicks off with Halloween candy, continues with Thanksgiving and ends with numerous parties, enormous fests, alcohol and even a selection of deserts throughout December (or if you prefer, during Christmas time).

It can be really easy for everyone to go overboard when it comes to eating and drinking, but at the same time it can be especially annoying for athletes who are trying their best to stay in shape while joining in on the festivities.

In this post, we shall cover a few quick tips that can help athletes stay in shape while remaining on track of their dietary goals, without at the same time missing out on all the fun.

Tips for Athletes during Holiday Season

Pay attention to your body and eating habits

You should already have adopted and followed a diet while you are training. Since you make the effort to follow the relevant diet while in training season, make sure to follow a similar pattern when resting for a few days or enjoying yourself with family and friends. This will help you follow a normal schedule while preventing hunger and overindulging. Before trying a new or special meal, simply ask yourself whether you would normally consume this many calories or this type of food? If the answer you give is negative, plan accordingly.

Remain Active

Every little activity or action helps when you are consuming more calories without any particular training. If you have to choose between taking the stairs or the lift, well simply take the stairs. Volunteer to help out with the chores, whatever those may be. Walk with your family or friends before, after or during events which will help offset the extra calorie intake without the need for additional gear or warm-up.

Volunteer to cook

If you find a chance where you can contribute in the kitchen, prepare a meal or part of the meal which is healthy. Try to add vegetables, fruits, and lean meat on the menu, especially if other portions of the cuisine aren’t so healthy. If not everyone goes for your suggested dishes, it’s a good reason to remain on track of your calorie intake.

There is a big number of healthy suggestions on traditional holiday recipes that you can find online. Be proactive and find something that you like. If you don’t have the time to look into it, here are some substitutes for common ingredients:

Spritzers for regular salad dressings

Skim instead of whole milk

Yogurt instead of sour cream

2 egg whites instead of 1 whole egg

Low fat cream cheese for whole fat cream cheese

Devise a healthy strategy

Just like the sport or activity you are engaged with, you should approach the larger events in your eating season with a strategy or plan.

Make sure to eat healthy snacks before the big meal. Those with soluble fiber (legumes, grains, fruits or vegetables) and healthy protein (seafood, white poultry meat, yogurt or beans) can reduce your appetite.

Before sitting down at the table, check to see what foods are being served and choose the healthiest options available. Try to minimize the high fat and sugary foods.

Try to have small portions over 2 to 4 hours which are better than one huge meal.

If you are of legal age to drink, make sure to drink two glasses of water for every alcoholic drink consumed.

When it’s time to have a dessert, choose your favourite one instead of all and make sure to enjoy every bit of it.

A healthy diet is essential to remaining in shape and on track of your athletic performance. Even though it's easy to indulge to the temptations, proper planning and selection of the right foods can take you a long way in achieving your goals.Fused Reaction™contains 12 natural ingredients that can help you maximise your athletic performance as well stay focused and motivated along the way. Grab yours now and stay on top of any nutrient deficiency.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/athletes-and-the-importance-of-mental-resilience2017-12-15T21:22:00+00:002018-01-26T20:09:35+00:00Athletes And The Importance Of Mental ResilienceMarios Kokolakis
Mental resilience is a quality needed by all athletes. Mental resilience refers to toughness and determination to become the best; qualities that describe a mentally strong and successful athlete. Even though technique and strength are equally important to athletic improvement, it is the ability to stay motivated and focused which transforms athletes to champions.

]]>
Mental resilience is a quality needed by all athletes. Mental resilience refers to toughness and determination to become the best; qualities that describe a mentally strong and successful athlete. Even though technique and strength are equally important to athletic improvement, it is the ability to stay motivated and focused which transforms athletes to champions.

Definition of Mental Resilience

What is mental resilience? How does it relate to sports and athleticism? Is it trainable? Mental resilience refers to understanding, and being able to use your psychological skills in order to consistently execute decision-making and physical skills learned in training (or by experience). This is an ability that doesn’t apply only once a week or a month and so on, but on a daily basis during high stress or even serious situations. The main point however is the fact that it can be learned and trained.

How does this relate to sports and athleticism though? Intense workouts or physical tests may not be the most effective option for helping athletes improve their mental resilience. That is due to the fact that resilience is not practiced before tested. An MMA athlete isn’t likely to improve his kick’s speed by working only in the weight room, and never practicing in the dojo. This is where athletes and coaches may miss the essence; mental resilience is a skill that needs to be practiced, honed, and improved.

Even though it may be difficult to define mental resilience when related to sports and athletes, we can still showcase the skills that are needed to develop it in ourselves and athletes in general.

Regulate Emotions

Being able to independently control emotions like excitability and relaxation. Different athletes perform better when in an excited state, while others when in a relaxed state of mind. Each athlete has their one way of performing at best however specific activities or sports may need a different optimal level. This simply means that the athlete needs the ability to regulate these levels depending on the sports’ requirements.

Focus and Concentrate

Being able to constantly give full attention to the task or activity at hand is of critical essence in stressful situations, like competitions or important events. Focus can be improved using a variety of techniques that aid in drawing an athlete's concentration to intrinsic cues as well as via the consumption of natural stimulants or supplements.

Visualise Performance

Being able to visualize performance specific to a task, activity, or sport. Promoting a mental state of success and certainty in the weight room or practice field can improve an athlete’s commitment to their athletic goals and objectives. Whether it’s a short training session or a longer period of consecutive hard training, coaches and athletes should equip with the right mental tools for success.

Self-Talk

Being able to control the inner-voice is a valuable performance tool, not only in sports but in everyday life as well. Positive internal messages about one’s self (and even their teammates, if in a team) have the ability to efficiently tackle problems and is critical for mental resilience.

Set Goals

Setting goals may sound a simple task, however it’s very important in influencing mental toughness. Being able to develop and follow a journey of checkpoints by setting short- and long-term performance objectives will certainly help athletes practice their mental resilience skills.

These skills however would need to be developed proactively and not reactively. The reason behind this is that in most cases mental toughness is applied only after a big game or even a loss; following and meeting goals can help athletes prepare for all outcomes and most certainly for achieving success.

Mental Resilience in Everyday Life

Mental resilience skills are not only important in strength and conditioning, but also outside of the weight room. Even tough an athlete may not be practising or training for a competition, developing strong mental toughness will prove to be essential through the flow of life. The incredible effect of this kind of training is that resilience is developed and improved which can be applied to personal and family situations as well as to everyday jobs, other than sports.

Mental resilience can maximise performance but its benefits can cover other parts of our lives as well. Thinking positively and effectively responding to stress will not only improve athletic performance, but also promote a healthier and consistent lifestyle.

Mastering mental resilience will undoubtedly be a difficult task. Determination, focus and motivation are needed throughout the whole journey. Fused Reaction™ is a natural brain supplement that can improve focus, concetration and energy levels; all, necessary skills to reach your athletic goals while performing at optimum performance.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/does-strength-training-help-burn-fat2017-12-12T21:24:00+00:002018-01-23T17:34:43+00:00Does Strength Training Help Burn Fat?Marios Kokolakis
Strength training, involves the use of weights, kettlebells or other forms that produce resistance and challenge an athlete’s body to work harder. That extra resistance and challenge that the body receives will definitely increase its metabolic rate. Even though, endurance exercise, such as running, does the same, the difference is in how long and how much these activities boost your metabolism. In other words, this will have an impact on your overall ability to lose body fat and at the same time decrease your weight.

]]>
Strength training, involves the use of weights, kettlebells or other forms that produce resistance and challenge an athlete’s body to work harder. That extra resistance and challenge that the body receives will definitely increase its metabolic rate. Even though, endurance exercise, such as running, does the same, the difference is in how long and how much these activities boost your metabolism. In other words, this will have an impact on your overall ability to lose body fat and at the same time decrease your weight.

Components of Metabolism

Firstly, we have our resting metabolic rate, or RMR. This is the energy required (measured in calories) to keep our bodies going without doing any extra activities or simply lying on a couch for all day long. The resting metabolic rate makes up about 60 to 80 percent of our total metabolic rate. The variation between the relevant percentages is due to the fact that there are individual or anatomical differences among people, the foods we consume, and the minor activities we do which can directly change RMR.

In addition, we have the thermic effect of activity, or TEA. The more active an athletes is, the higher the total metabolic rate will be increased. TEA refers to all the activity from doing laundry to playing football, to walking down the hallway. It’s not only the planned physical activity, but also all the activities that we take part in during our everyday lives.

Finally, we have the thermic effect of feeding, or TEF. TEF is the amount of energy used to eat and digest food as well as using those nutrients to produce more energy.

This leads us to the components of our metabolism, which is known as total energy expenditure (TEE) = RMR + TEA + TEF. These components vary from person to person, resulting in unique metabolic rates.

Strength Training

Strength training has the ability to increase our TEE by increasing the amount of calories used during activity (TEA). The harder and more you strength train, the more calories you burn through exercise and different sets. In addition, if your food consumption does not go over your daily needs and contains quality and healthy choices, you will lose both weight and body fat.

Strength training also has the ability to increase the amount of calories used in your resting metabolic rate (RMR), e.g. when resting. The reason behind this is that it helps you increase the amount of lean muscle mass you possess, which requires more energy to maintain and repair than fat tissue.

Both strength training and endurance exercise will increase energy expenditure during the activity, and even for a few hours afterwards, when performed at the same intensity; thus, increasing the desire to consume food after an intense workout. The difference between the two though is that the energy expended after a strength training session can be elevated for 24 to 36 hours.

Overall, strength training can further boost an athlete’s metabolism, but it has to be even more challenging than the activities done on a daily basis. The body needs to remember that strength training requires “strength”, so the exercises need weight to build muscle.

Improving your stamina and energy levels is a difficult task, both mentally and physically. Proper dedication, motivation and focus is needed during the whole journey. Our Fused Reaction™brain supplement and its12 Natural Ingredientscan improve your stamina and power and increase the focus and motivation you need to achieve your goals.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/athletes-important-tips-to-increase-speed-acceleration2017-12-11T21:24:00+00:002018-01-23T17:35:30+00:00Athletes: Important Tips to Increase Speed AccelerationMarios Kokolakis
The ability to accelerate refers to reaching top speed from a stop and is crucial for almost every athlete and in every sport. May that be sprinting on the track, making tackles, or scoring, becoming more successful will be greatly impacted by the power to transition quickly from a standstill to maximum velocity. If your sport or activity includes any kind of running, practicing and training for faster acceleration will certainly improve your performance.

]]>
The ability to accelerate refers to reaching top speed from a stop and is crucial for almost every athlete and in every sport. May that be sprinting on the track, making tackles, or scoring, becoming more successful will be greatly impacted by the power to transition quickly from a standstill to maximum velocity. If your sport or activity includes any kind of running, practicing and training for faster acceleration will certainly improve your performance.

Understanding the Physics

In order to understand how effective acceleration takes place and how it can be used to improve performance, it is key to know about the physics of accelerating the body. Acceleration occurs when force is applied to a mass over a specific amount of time; the more force, the more acceleration. The less mass there is per given force during a specific time, the more acceleration the mass will gain. In other words, if you want to accelerate quickly, you would need a high level of force for as much time as possible while running (while focusing on low weight).

Applying Force

As you would expect, the easiest (or most difficult at the same time) way to get force is to train for it, via strength training. Strength training in the weight room, will make an athlete to put more force into the ground while accelerating which will leave in gaining greater acceleration of their given mass. In other words, if you want to run faster, you would need to get stronger while gaining minimal or maintaining same weight.

An athlete would also need to produce force against the ground behind them. What this means is that directing force behind the athlete will result in a forward acceleration of the athlete’s mass. If the (more than needed) force is used vertically can decreased the process of accelerating.

Time Applying Force

It is essential to understand that maximising time spent applying force to the ground can also result in maximising acceleration. Athletes can improve the time spent applying force by simply practicing technique. This refers to pushing off the ground with long forceful strides, and get the next foot back on the ground as soon as physically possible.

Avoiding Excess Mass

It’s much harder to accelerate a heavy object than a light one, or in other words, it’s much harder for a heavy object to go faster than a light one when the same amount of force is applied. If the sport doesn’t require gaining mass in order to compete against other athletes, you will be better off by not being heavy, considering that you are interested in improving your acceleration. Heavy mass is not effective when it has to be accelerated in sprinting.

Mastering Technique

Understanding the physics of how acceleration works will aid in further improving acceleration technique. In specific, the athlete would need to be in an excellent force-producing position while remaining in contact with the ground for a full push, as well as return to the ground as soon as possible in order to begin the next pushing step.

Improving Forward Lean

All athletes would need a specific (or relative) degree of forward lean when accelerating. The degree of lean would be dependent on the strength levels that are also relative to the body weight. What this means is that a strong athlete with good technique will have a lean of around 45 (during the first few steps). Most sprinters would need to have lean angles of 45 to 55 degrees, based on their strength (or power) to weight ratio.

Improving Limb Action

Arms and legs should act distinctively when accelerating. Legs should be recovered by swinging forward only at the hip, with the foot staying low to the ground. The arms should essentially swing back and forth, opposite to the legs’ action. Elbows would need to rapidly open and close as the arms are moving backwards and forward.

All athletes striving for improving their acceleration speed, should focus on developing the above tips; ideally, in the order they are presented. It is important to note that the best sprinters (or accelerators in general) understand and fully implement the physics of the acceleration process.

Improving acceleration and reaction speed may sometimes be a difficult thing to accomplish. If there is a goal you want to achieve or even get better at, crystal clear focus and strong motivation are essential. Improve your acceleration, reaction times and focus with our natural brain supplement,Fused Reaction™, which was scientifically designed to deliver powerful cognitive and athletic performance.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/importance-of-guarana-berry-for-athletes2017-12-10T20:55:00+00:002018-01-23T14:41:01+00:00The Importance of Guarana Berry for AthletesMarios Kokolakis
Guarana berry is quite popular in the fitness industry nowadays and is sold as a dietary supplement that is used by athletes to improve their performance.

Once thought to be a gift from the gods by native Brazilians, guarana has been used for centuries as tea in Guarani culture. Nowadays, guarana is most widely used as a healthy stimulant as it contains about twice the caffeine of the coffee bean. In addition to caffeine, it also contains theobromine and theophylline which are a different type of stimulant and can positively affect the central nervous system.

]]>
Guarana berry is quite popular in the fitness industry nowadays and is sold as a dietary supplement that is used by athletes to improve their performance.

Guarana, also known as Paullinia cupana, is a plant in the maple family that grows along the Amazon and is very common in Brazil. Its berries, which look very similar to eyeballs, have been used for different reasons in the past.

Once thought to be a gift from the gods by native Brazilians, guarana has been used for centuries as tea in Guarani culture. Nowadays, guarana is most widely used as a healthy stimulant as it contains about twice the caffeine of the coffee bean. In addition to caffeine, it also contains theobromine and theophylline which are a different type of stimulant and can positively affect the central nervous system.

Guarana Can Boost Athletic Performance

Independently of what everyone’s goal or daily activity is, we all need a little boost that can get us through the day at optimum levels.

Guarana’s power is in the high amounts of caffeine. Commonly used as a power drug by athletes or people at the office, caffeine has been justifiably considered as a performance booster since ancient times (R). It has now even become a socially accepted and even endorsed way of increasing one’s performance, productivity and attention span.

Various studies and research on animals has demonstrated that guarana increased both their physical and mental strength, along with memory (R).

Guarana Can Improve Focus and Concentration

Research and different tests made on human participants showed that a 75 mg dose of guarana, or Paullinia cupana, extract can improve task performance and increase attention span for a period of up to six hours.

Additional research has also demonstrated that adding guarana extract to a multivitamin can aid young individuals in better performing mental tasks, while fighting mental fatigue (R). This makes it perfect for long periods of brainwork or stressful activities, like delivering a project at work or training for a big tournament.

Interestingly, one study showed that the intake of guarana by women that undergo chemotherapy, helped them fight the fatigue and tiredness caused by treatment process (R).

The underlying point here is that if you have a lot that need to be taken care of or even perform at peak levels without making common mistakes, guarana can deliver the boost and quality actions you need.

Guarana, also known as Paullinia cupana, has been shown to improve athletic performance and energy levels, boosting mental edge and focus as well as aiding in weight loss. These are a few of the reasons that we combined Guarana with another 11 natural ingredients into our Fused Reaction™; all to help you naturally boost your focus and alertness, memory and energy levels.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/bodyweight-training-for-athletic-performance2017-12-10T20:53:00+00:002018-01-27T17:25:57+00:00Bodyweight Training for Athletic PerformanceMarios Kokolakis
Training for athletic performance implicates the use of barbells, moving heavy weight, and showing high intensity and determination at the weight room on a daily basis. Even though these techniques can indeed prove to be of great benefit in producing results, bodyweight training can further help athletes excel in their sport or specialised activity. Simply put, bodyweight training involves pushups and pullups and in general, using your own body for resistance in order to develop strength, coordination, and overall fitness. Even though it may seem or sound simple, it is a difficult task to master.

]]>
Training for athletic performance implicates the use of barbells, moving heavy weight, and showing high intensity and determination at the weight room on a daily basis. Even though these techniques can indeed prove to be of great benefit in producing results, bodyweight training can further help athletes excel in their sport or specialised activity. Simply put, bodyweight training involves pushups and pullups and in general, using your own body for resistance in order to develop strength, coordination, and overall fitness. Even though it may seem or sound simple, it is a difficult task to master.

Many athletes avoid to consider the benefits of setting a solid fitness foundation and skill in a range of bodyweight movements. Even though bodyweight training is not to be thought as a replacement for resistance training, bodyweight movement (when performed properly) can enhance an athlete's ability to develop through complex movements, gain power, and even prevent injuries.

Improving Performance

Looking at bodyweight training from a performance point of view, adding in bodyweight movements can produce great to benefits to athletic performance. Most interestingly, athletes will improve their orientation abilities and body balance in various positions. Including lunges or single leg squats in your workout plan can quickly show you the comfort of moving on one leg.

Consistent practice and progression of these movements can aid in improving motor skills as well as increasing awareness of force distribution through the feet. This is essential to every athlete and especially the ones who participate in activities or sports that requires landing on one leg.

Trying out multiple variations of training bodyweight like lunges, single leg squats, and bulgarian split squats (among others) can help develop neuromuscular coordination and essentially establish the foundation needed for future resistance training. The better the connection between mind and movement, the greater the results of strength training, thus further improving athletic performance.

Increasing Fatigue Capacity

In addition to improving performance, performing bodyweight training to the point of tiredness will help you to further improve stamina and work capacity. Training by doing structural movements like high numbers of squats and pushups (using the body weight alone) will not only challenge an athlete’s mental resilience to push through fatigue, but also improve the body's ability to maintain effective positions.

The more tired an athlete becomes the more errors in form and technique become apparent. One of the benefits bodyweight training can produce is the ability and constant focus on maintaining perfect form. When doing pushups for example, straining to maintain the elbow’s position and neutral hips as fatigue comes about is where adaptation is made. Pushups, bodyweight squats, and other bodyweight movements can be utilised to improve the ability to complete hard sets while maintaining strong, stable, and safe positions.

Promoting Well-Being

Bodyweight training cannot only improve performance and fatigue capacity but also set the basis for heading towards a long life of health and wellness. After an athletic career is over due to age restrictions, you would want to be able to move and act in a healthy way, naturally.

Performing bodyweight movements at a young age will improve your ability to perform those same movements as you get older. So, if you haven’t tried bodyweight training in a while, it's time to try the out again and start remembering how to move.

Independently of what type of training routine you choose to follow, clear focus, concentration and motivation are a must in achieving your goals. OurFused Reaction™ brain supplement was created with natural ingredients to boost your cognitive and athletic performance.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/how-can-athletes-avoid-injuries-by-fixing-these-3-mistakes2017-12-10T13:04:00+00:002018-01-27T16:31:43+00:00How Can Athletes Avoid Injuries by Fixing These 3 MistakesMarios Kokolakis
Injuries can become a sometimes unavoidable part of the game in any sport or physical activity, but especially in sports where physical fitness is necessary to compete, like football, basketball, or Mixed Martial Arts.

While specific actions or movements that require contact may be unavoidable, focusing on reducing non-contact injuries can certainly make a difference in keeping athletes healthy and safe. Non-contact injuries will generally result from inaccurate movement patterns, muscle imbalances or poor body awareness. Being aware of certain training mistakes, every athlete can reduce the risk or even avoid injuries that may happen during play or an intense training session.

]]>
Injuries can become a sometimes unavoidable part of the game in any sport or physical activity, but especially in sports where physical fitness is necessary to compete, like football, basketball, or Mixed Martial Arts.

While specific actions or movements that require contact may be unavoidable, focusing on reducing non-contact injuries can certainly make a difference in keeping athletes healthy and safe. Non-contact injuries will generally result from inaccurate movement patterns, muscle imbalances or poor body awareness. Being aware of certain training mistakes, every athlete can reduce the risk or even avoid injuries that may happen during play or an intense training session.

The main point to consider when avoiding non-contact injuries is to correct negative habits both in and out of the training or weights room. Making sure of not doing these 3 performance-damaging mistakes will help you stay healthy and strong.

Sitting Too Much

Sitting nowadays, in office chairs, couch or vehicles, is almost unavoidable. Sitting for long periods of time though can have a negative influence to your health and well-being.

The main reasons are that our body is inactive for the majority of the day or simply extensive periods of time, and that our posture while sitting is bad for athletic performance. The time spent with the hips in a shortened position can cause damage on your hip flexors, hamstrings, and glutes. These problems can have a negative effect on how mobile your hips are as well as decrease overall power capacity.

In order to reduce the negative effects of sitting, get every chance you find to get out of the chair. You may even want to try a standing desk (they do exist), if and when possible. If however, sitting cannot be avoided, make sure to think about your posture; in other words, try and maintain your shoulder blades pulled back and core engaged, while having your chin parallel with the floor. Finally, take short breaks during the day and make full use of it by walking or including hip mobility drills, which can aid in avoiding chronic hip dysfunction.

Doing Half-Reps

Half-Reps or Half-Repping refers to an athlete performing a lift or exercise (most commonly by using weights) without reaching the full range of motion. Being at a weight room, one will most probably see athletes in the squat racks doing half-repped squats. Performing training movements without using the full functional range of motion can have a more negative impact than positive.

For example, if an athlete squats while failing to reach proper depth (or not performing the full range of motion of the hips) can place excessive stress on the anterior chain of the lower body. When this occurs, your hips and hamstrings will not be able to effectively stabilize your knees. Even though, you will be able to squat more weight (when you half-rep) at the give time, you will end up failing at moving that weight in a functional or effective pattern.

People used to believe that squats are bad for someone knees however, this only applies when an athlete squats with poor form, poor depth, and poor core stability. Employing the full range of motion of the hips will allow you to control the weight with the proper spinal stability while protect the knees by strengthening their overall integrity. Performing less than the full range of motion will only lead to increased imbalances, as well as give you a false perception that you can squat a lot of weight. As with squatting, avoiding the full range of motion on other exercises may also have a negative impact to our bones and muscles which may eventually lead to an injury; thus, make sure to maintain the appropriate motor pattern or technique when practising.

Skipping Warm-Up

There is a common phenomenon nowadays that athletes (especially young ones – when unsupervised) may skip their warm-up or not take it seriously. Although it may simply take time and experience to follow this practice, a proper warm-up is crucial to ensuring that your body is all set for training as well as aid in avoiding non-contact injuries during play.

Before any training or lifting, it is essential that athletes spend the required time to perform some light activity, mobilise specific muscle areas and prepare them for training, while letting the nervous system know that large motor units will soon be used. Warm-ups can also work to quickly understand what muscle groups require more recovery or extra prep time as well as and how hard overall you should be pushing.

Injuries can become a barrier to future athletic success and progress, and even have a serious impact on your psychology and well-being. As you would expect, do your best to not get hurt. The longer you can stay healthy and strong, the better you can improve without putting limitations on yourself and body. Invest and plan your time to make the necessary changes for an effective workout and training session. Our Fused Reaction™supplement contains12 natural ingredients that can improve your stamina and power and increase the focus and motivation you need to achieve your goals.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/the-importance-of-stretching-for-athletes2017-12-09T15:28:00+00:002018-01-27T17:45:45+00:00The Importance of Stretching for AthletesMarios Kokolakis
Stretching is a must when it comes to physical health and fitness and is the practise of putting particular parts of the body into a position that will lengthen the muscles and relevant soft tissues.

Adopting and following a regular stretching program or routine can produce a number of benefits within the body and specifically within the different muscles areas. Tissues that will be positively affected by the stretching process include the ligaments, tendons, fascia, skin and scar tissue. Stretching is a simple activity to perform and is essential in improving athletic performance, decreasing the risk of injuries while minimising muscle pains.

]]>
Stretching is a must when it comes to physical health and fitness and is the practise of putting particular parts of the body into a position that will lengthen the muscles and relevant soft tissues.

Adopting and following a regular stretching program or routine can produce a number of benefits within the body and specifically within the different muscles areas. Tissues that will be positively affected by the stretching process include the ligaments, tendons, fascia, skin and scar tissue. Stretching is a simple activity to perform and is essential in improving athletic performance, decreasing the risk of injuries while minimising muscle pains.

Here we shall cover the 5 most important benefits of stretching when related to athletic performance and excellence.

Improves Range of Movement

Athletes increasing their range of movement via stretching means that they will also increase the distance that limbs can move before damaging muscles or tendons. For example, footballers place stress on the muscles and tendons in the back of their legs when kicking a football. An extended range of movement can lead to increased comfort, freedom and ability to move efficiently, as well as less susceptibility to strain injuries.

Increases Power

Athletes increasing their muscle length means that the distance over which their muscles contract will be also increased. This can lead to a potential increase of muscle power which will in turn result in an increase of athletic performance, while improving balance and control of muscles.

Reduces Post-Exercise Soreness

Stretching, as part of an efficient cool-down routine, aids in relieving the soreness. This occurs by lengthening the individual muscle fibres, increasing blood circulation, and removing waste products (for example, lactic acid).

Reduces Fatigue

Athletes with increased flexibility through stretching are most certainly to experience less effects of fatigue by taking pressure off the working muscles.

In addition to the benefits above, a regular stretching routine can help in improving body posture, develop body awareness, improve movement co-ordination, promote blood circulation, increase energy levels as well as improve relaxation and stress relief.

Even though, the topic of stretching and flexibility has been taken into consideration by the fitness community over the past few years, one thing remains constant: stretching is physiologically crucial for all athletes and how they perform in their field or sport.

Let’s take a look at 5 simple rules to follow when adopting a safe flexibility workout.

Warm-up Before Stretching

Athletes should make sure to always stretch warm muscles as stretching a cold muscle may increase the risks of injury. The best results can be attained by performing a light movement warm up for 5 to 10 minutes before stretching because this will add fluid and mobility to the joints and improve blood circulation to the surrounding muscles.

Stretch after Exercise

Athletes should stretch at the best time in their workout. It is not mandatory to stretch before the training session, but it is absolutely necessary to stretch after.

Stretch All Major Muscles

Athletes focused on a specific muscle group should make sure to stretch it extensively. Balanced strong and stretched muscles are important for joint health. If you have tight hamstrings for example, your pelvis is going to be pulled out of alignment, which can cause back pain. Muscles should be balanced from one side to the other as well front to back.

Stretch Slowly

Ensure that you move into each stretching position at a slow pace. Athletes shouldn’t force themselves into a stretch by snapping into the relevant position.

Stretch Only to Your Maximum Point of Tension

A stretch should rate anywhere from mild tension to the edge of discomfort. It should never cause severe or sharp pain anywhere else in your body; if it does, make sure to stop and rest.

Improving athletic performance a difficult task, both mentally and physically. Proper dedication, motivation and focus is needed during the whole journey. Our Fused Reaction™brain supplement and its12 Natural Ingredientscan improve your stamina and power and increase the focus and motivation you need to achieve your goals.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/5-reasons-runners-should-strength-train2017-12-09T14:02:00+00:002018-01-28T18:40:17+00:005 Reasons Runners Should Strength TrainMarios Kokolakis
When most runners think about training, they refer to running. After running for so many miles each week, it's fairly easy to see why strength training isn't the first priority for most professional runners. Even though most runners believe that strength training may make them bulky and slow, strength and conditioning has been proved to be beneficial to improving performance in sprinters and runners in general.

Here we shall cover the 5 main reasons as to why all runners would need to include strength training to their performance goals and objectives.

]]>
When most runners think about training, they refer to running. After running for so many miles each week, it's fairly easy to see why strength training isn't the first priority for most professional runners. Even though most runners believe that strength training may make them bulky and slow, strength and conditioning has been proved to be beneficial to improving performance in sprinters and runners in general (R, R).

Here we shall cover the 5 main reasons as to why all runners would need to include strength training to their performance goals and objectives.

Makes You Run Faster

Strength training can indeed help you improve your speed. By placing stress via weights and resistance, strength training can push your body to adapt and change in order to increase to be able to handle that stress. Over the long term, the physiological adaptations positively influence your running speed. This is one of the reasons why a program created specifically for improving running performance is so important.

Strength training has great benefits as it can increase your body’s muscle mass while decreasing your body fat percentage in addition to also increasing the amount of force your muscles can apply to the ground whilst running. This further aids in making each step more powerful, improving your maximal speed and maintaining high speeds for longer periods of time. Strength training also improves your muscular endurance and anaerobic power, which can help you give that final push at the very end of the race.

Makes Your Bones and Connective Tissues Stronger

Running (or hitting the ground) is a repetitive process which may increase the risks of injuries in runners. In addition to improving muscle strength, strength training can help your bones and connective tissues (tendons, ligaments, fascia, and cartilage) to positively adapt to stress placed on them, which can aid in preventing overuse injuries.

Similarly to the muscles’ ability to respond to resistance (by becoming stronger), stronger muscles slightly pull the bones they attach to, which means that bones and the structures around them respond and become stronger, too. Stronger bones and connective tissues (like Achilles tendon) can help runners endure and absorb the shocks from the consistent pavement pounding.

Improves Your Stamina

Running economy or stamina maintenance can be identified by how much energy and oxygen you use to run at a certain pace. The less energy and oxygen you use to run, the better your running economy or stamina. As running economy can indicate the efficiency and effectiveness of your body’s ability to run, strength training can assist in further improving it.

Strength training can make your strides more efficient which in essence refers to the fact that you can run better and longer while sustaining faster paces for long durations. In other words, your running economy or stamina will improved in addition to overall endurance performance.

Improves Running Form

Most people have a side that is more muscularly developed, which can lead to imbalances in strength or even certain movement patterns being imperfect. This can be one of the reasons as to why we may get aches in one side of the body (for example, left or right knee) but not the other which can impact the way our body moves and behaves. These unexpected movement patterns are created by muscle imbalances and can result in pain and injury over time.

A strength training program specific to runners can target the correction of these muscular imbalances that are the cause of bad movement patterns. Better running form means less risk of overuse injury from bad movement mechanics, and more effective running.

Prevents the Risk of Injuries

Not only runners but also all athletes wish for fewer injuries and focus on avoiding them. A strength training plan will help runners strengthen the muscle areas surrounding the most frequently injured joints (like ankles, knees, hips and back), while making them stronger and more energy-usage resilient. When you improve your strength, your running mechanics will also improve, helping you avoid injury that may be caused by poor running form.

Improved durability will also help you run further and harder where intense training will help you achieve new levels of athletic performance and strength. In conclusion, strength training will result in getting the most out of your runs, both at physical and mental levels.

Improving your stamina and energy levels is a difficult task, both mentally and physically. Proper dedication, motivation and focus is needed during the whole journey. Our Fused Reaction™brain supplement and its12 Natural Ingredientscan improve your stamina and power and increase the focus and motivation you need to achieve your goals.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/preparing-for-long-term-athletic-development2017-12-09T13:31:00+00:002018-01-27T12:07:40+00:00Preparing for Long Term Athletic DevelopmentMarios Kokolakis
Athletes concerned with physical preparation, particularly those of young age, are well aware that early specialisation of skills has not been promoted enough by coaches and the fitness community. In other words, athletes should strive to specialise in a given skill early while focusing on the way they achieve that via strength training plans and plyometrics in order to ultimately reach optimal physical performance in later years.

It is equally important that athletes get prepared for the here and now but also to create the foundation for achieving success in the future. Taking this into consideration, there are three main points to focus on when preparing for long term athletic development:

]]>
Athletes concerned with physical preparation, particularly those of young age, are well aware that early specialisation of skills has not been promoted enough by coaches and the fitness community. In other words, athletes should strive to specialise in a given skill early while focusing on the way they achieve that via strength training plans and plyometrics in order to ultimately reach optimal physical performance in later years.

It is equally important that athletes get prepared for the here and now but also to create the foundation for achieving success in the future. Taking this into consideration, there are three main points to focus on when preparing for long term athletic development:

Avoid early performance peaks through overly intensive training

Train strengths and weaknesses accordingly

Follow multi-structure physical development

Avoid early performance peaks through overly intensive training

There are many cases where athletes that concentrated on maximal strength gains performed really well in the short term, but at the same time reached their development capacity or ability to further improve down the line.

The main factor that may cause this is movement patterns. When we exercise intensely, our movements patterns may require re-wiring in order to adapt to stress placed on the spine, while at the same time adapting to the specific condition. What this means is that even though heavy loads can be stimulating, especially for beginners, they may hinder the ability to learn a fine technique in a certain sport.

It is important to note that when training at any athletic level, an idea of how much barbell strength is truly needed for any given sport skill should be present. In other words, is it essential to question how much barbell strength we are employing at any point in time - optimal suggestion of 5-10% improvements in barbell strength gains each year. If the training plan is not followed properly, it would simply raise the question as to why would a developing athlete do more intensive multi-set barbell work that can be better utilised later on?

A few questions that can be considered when preparing for long term development include the following:

Train strengths and weaknesses accordingly

It is known that we all, as humans, have our strengths and weaknesses; however, athletes should be extra aware of their athletic strengths and weaknesses as it may impact their performance. Athletes get better in sports according to their strengths, and by improving those strengths, they progress even further.

Identifying both strength and weaknesses is of crucial essence to an athlete as they can avoid workout plans that take them away from their strengths, but also train to create a balance between their physical limitations and existing strengths. Even in advanced training stages, athletes can still benefit by looking at weaknesses early in the season.

Follow multi-structure physical development

So what are the best strategies to follow in order to set the foundation for long term development in athletes of various ages? The main point here is that athletes would not need specific training work but a generic one. What this means is that there are many athletes out there that are too specialised on a specific skill, but at the same time, lack the athletic foundations which will result in healthier results and movement improvements – both necessary to reaching athletic excellence. Long term physical development can be shaped in the form a multi-structure approach that contains:

Mobility

Balance

Coordination

Rhythm

Timing

Even though athletes tend to focus on things that are relatively easy to improve on, tracking performance can aid in learning the skills of acceleration, maximal speed as well as sequential application of force (for example, throwing). This refers to the fact that both athletes and coaches should focus on improving movement techniques and performing the basic human movements such as crawling, carrying, crouching, hinging, jumping and sprinting.

The competition and training plan must be regularly monitored, both at physical and mental levels. Young athletes would need to balance the number of competitions they take part in, and ensure that there is also time for development of all-around skills. In conclusion, an athlete’s success is built on the foundation they have laid down, and the more aware of what makes them successful are, the better they can prepare.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/developing-mental-toughness-in-sports2017-12-07T19:12:00+00:002018-09-19T22:41:25+01:00Developing Mental Toughness in Sports | Master It By Adopting These 5 SkillsMarios Kokolakis
Mental toughness is a quality respected and even required by all coaches and athletes. Mental toughness could be described as resilience, determination or a “never give up” attitude; all, qualities that describe a mentally strong and successful athlete. Even though technique and strength are equally important to athletic improvement, it is the ability to stay motivated and focused which transforms athletes to champions.

]]>
Mental toughness is a quality respected and even required by all coaches and athletes. Mental toughness - or also named as 'mental fitness' - could be described as resilience, determination or a “never give up” attitude; all, qualities that describe a mentally strong and successful athlete.

Even though technique and strength are equally important to athletic improvement, it is the ability to stay motivated and focused which transforms athletes to champions.

Definition of Mental Toughness

What is mental toughness? How does it relate to sports and athleticism? Is it trainable?

Even though the first response that comes to mind when reading these questions is that mental toughness is not trainable, we will see that it’s not entirely true.

Mental toughness reflects to understanding, and being able to use your psychological skills in order to consistently execute decision-making and physical skills learned in training (or by experience). This is an ability that doesn’t apply only once a week or a month and so on, but on a daily basis during high stress or even serious situations. The main point however is the fact that it can be learned and trained.

How does this relate to sports and athleticism though?

The key thing to remember is that intense workouts or physical tests may not be the most effective option for helping athletes improve their mental resilience. That is due to the fact that resilience is not practiced before tested. An MMA athlete isn’t likely to improve his kick’s speed by working only in the weight room, and never practicing in the dojo.

This is where athletes and coaches may miss the essence; mental toughness is a skill that needs to be practiced, honed, and improved.

Even though it may be difficult to define mental toughness when related to sports and athletes, we can still showcase the skills that are needed to develop mental resilience in ourselves and athletes in general.

5 Skills To Build Mental Resilience

1. Controlling Emotions

Being able to independently control emotions like excitability and relaxation. Different athletes perform better when an excited state, while others when in a relaxed state of mind.

Each athlete has their one way of performing at best however specific activities or sports may need a different optimal level. This simply means that the athlete needs the ability to regulate these levels depending on the sports’ requirements.

2. Focus and Concentration

Being able to constantly give full attention to the task or activity at hand is of critical essence in stressful situations, like competitions or important events.

3. Visualizing Success

Being able to visualize success specific to a task, activity, or sport. Promoting a mental state of success and (humble) certainty in the weight room or practice field can improve an athlete’s commitment to their athletic goals and objectives.

Whether it’s a short training session or a longer period of consecutive hard training, coaches and athletes should equip with the right mental tools for success.

4. Self-Talk

Being able to control the inner-voice is a valuable performance tool, not only in sports but in everyday life as well.

Positive internal messages about one’s self (and even their teammates, if in a team) have the ability to efficiently tackle problems and is critical for mental resilience.

5. Setting Goals

Setting goals may sound a simple task, however it’s very important in influencing mental toughness. Being able to develop and follow a journey of checkpoints by setting short- and long-term performance objectives will certainly help athletes practice their mental resilience skills.

It’s imperative to note that these skills need to be developed proactively and not reactively. The reason behind this is that in most cases mental toughness is applied only after a big game or even a loss; following and meeting goals can help athletes prepare for all outcomes and most certainly for achieving success.

Applying Mental Toughness to Everyday Life

Mental toughness skills are not only important in strength and conditioning, but also outside of the weight room. Even tough an athlete may not be practising or training for a competition, developing strong mental toughness will prove to be essential through the flow of life.

The incredible effect of this kind of training is that resilience is developed and improved which can be applied to personal and family situations as well as to everyday jobs, other than sports.

Mental toughness can unquestionably maximise performance but its benefits can cover other parts of our lives as well. Thinking positively and effectively responding to stress will not only improve athletic performance, but also promote a healthier and consistent lifestyle.

Mastering mental toughness will undoubtedly be a difficult task. Determination, focus and motivation are needed throughout the whole journey. Fused Reaction™ is a natural supplement that can improve focus, mental state and energy levels; all, necessary skills to reach your athletic goals while performing at optimum performance.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/3-reasons-cyclists-should-strength-train2017-12-04T20:58:00+00:002018-01-28T18:46:49+00:003 Reasons Cyclists Should Strength TrainMarios Kokolakis
Regardless of whether you are a professional cyclist or simply a recreational rider, you may want to consider including a strength training component to your training sessions or plan. Even though it may seem tough with all those hours training on the bike, strength training can provide great benefits to your body, performance and overall health. In specific, the gym or weight room may prove to be a valuable asset in your cycling fitness routine.

]]>
Regardless of whether you are a professional cyclist or simply a recreational rider, you may want to consider including a strength training component to your training sessions or plan. Even though it may seem tough with all those hours training on the bike, strength training can provide great benefits to your body, performance and overall health. In specific, the gym or weight room may prove to be a valuable asset in your cycling fitness routine.

Here, we shall discuss the three main reasons why strength training can aid in improving your cycling skills as well as taking you to the next level of athletic performance.

Increase Power

One of the most important things that all cyclists want is more leg power. To cycle fast up steep hills or give your best self at the end of a race, you would need to have both muscular power and enough stamina. Even though cycling is very beneficial to improving your endurance levels and cardiovascular health, it doesn’t add a lot to your muscular strength and power. That is one of the reasons why a strength training program specific to cyclists should consist of specific exercises to improve strength in the lower body (like squats and lunges) and leg power (like hang cleans and box jumps).

A good strength training program can methodically deliver the extra energy you need to:

Prevent Injuries

Spending so much time hunched over the handlebars and your hips in prolonged flexion (or even doing thousands of pedal strokes) may result in causing muscular imbalances. What this means is that even though cycling develops your quads and glutes, it doesn’t do the same for your hamstrings or hip stabilizers.

Overusing the same muscle areas or groups can result to chronic aches and pains or even injuries over time; however, strength training can help with that. A strength training program dedicated to cyclists can focus on underutilised and underdeveloped muscle areas, which will then improve any muscle imbalances while making your body more balanced and durable.

Improve Stamina

Even though strength training won’t make such a big impact on your aerobic endurance (it will indeed improve it though), increasing your overall strength and maintain muscular balance can lead to a huge difference when it comes to stamina and energy levels on the bike.

A great cyclist-specific strength training program can grow your strength and power within certain cycling movement patterns. This will in turn help you produce and maintain high force while delaying symptoms of fatigue and exhaustion. In other words, what this refers to is that fact that if your core and back are stronger, you can preserve better posture (on the bike) for longer periods of time. If your quads and hamstrings are balanced and powerful, you can improve your stamina capacity and ability to endure for longer and more difficult rides. To conclude, strength training can help you to significantly produce more force for longer while sustaining a faster pace through the finish line.

Improving your strength and energy levels is indeed a difficult accomplishment, both mentally and physically. Proper dedication, focus and hard work is a must during the whole journey. Our Fused Reaction™supplement contains 12 natural ingredients that can improve your stamina and enhance the focus and motivation you need to achieve your goals. Check it out now and stay ahead of competition!

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/recovery-tips-for-optimal-performance2017-12-03T14:16:00+00:002018-01-23T17:26:50+00:00Recovery Tips for Optimal PerformanceMarios Kokolakis
Recovery from intense training sessions is often overlooked by athletes due to the fact that many are not aware of its role in athletic performance. In order for the body to perform at optimum levels, it must fully recover from the stress and strain it received. Continuous training without allowing your body time to regenerate, will result in using up all energy with nothing left to perform. If you see that you are not achieving the results you want but working hard on a constant basis, you should consider focusing on recovering as much as you do on training. Let’s see a few simple tips that can help to properly recover and which will ultimately lead to quality athletic performance.

]]>
Recovery from intense training sessions is often overlooked by athletes due to the fact that many are not aware of its role in athletic performance. In order for the body to perform at optimum levels, it must fully recover from the stress and strain it received. Continuous training without allowing your body time to regenerate, will result in using up all energy with nothing left to perform. If you see that you are not achieving the results you want but working hard on a constant basis, you should consider focusing on recovering as much as you do on training. Let’s see a few simple tips that can help to properly recover and which will ultimately lead to quality athletic performance.

Always Be On The Move

Being mobile not only plays an important role in performance recovery is also essential to performing daily activities. Strength training without being mobile enough can cause your body to become tight which at the same time may make simple movements, such as standing up, painful. Mobility refers to sufficient movement patterns and is not the same thing as flexibility. Flexibility concerns the stance an athlete can achieve during an athletic movement. On the other hand, mobility describes an athlete’s ability or inability to achieve a desired position or stance and is related with stability and coordination of multiple joints functioning simultaneously (R).

Most injuries occur during an athletic event where athletes quickly perform a range of movements in a very short time, rather than when stationary or moving slowly. In specific, injuries may happen when multiple joints are moving simultaneously. What that means is that mobility techniques should focus on multi-joint movements while progressively moving through the full range of motion. A mobility plan in the form of either a warm-up or as a recovery routine is essential to an athlete's training goals while both reducing the risk of injury and increasing performance.

Tips on Staying Mobile:

Foam rolling/mechanical stimulation.

Stretching.

Move! If you find yourself not having done or moved much halfway through the day, get up and move around to get blood flowing through your body and to your muscles.

Eat Properly, Eat Enough

There are many occasions during our busy lives where we forget or don’t even have the time to eat properly; which can easily have an impact on our training and performance. Our body stores glucose which is used for energy during exercise, in the muscles and in the liver. The glucose levels however are almost depleted during exercise. In other words, it is essential to eat to fuel workouts or training sessions. Maintaining glucose levels high can prevent fatigue and at the same time reduce the risk of getting injured. Food should be seen as the energy factor of our body and we should be focusing on feeding our body optimally. This relates to that fact we should be consuming foods that are high in nutrient quality while avoiding those low in nutrient quality (or no meals at all) as it could result in decrease athletic performance.

Drinking water is just as important eating food. Water is crucial to almost every function our body performs. Decline in performance has been seen at just 2% dehydration, meaning that if our body weight drops just 2% during exercise due to dehydration, we can only perform at about 90% of what we are capable of (R). So, make sure to keep yourself hydrated at all times with an extra attention at times of a training session.

Tips on Eating Properly, Eating Enough:

Eat multiple times throughout the day.

Eat foods that are high in nutrient quality.

Eat 2 to 3 hours before a workout session and immediately after (or as soon as possible).

Carry a water bottle around at all times.

Sleep

Sleep is one of the most key factors on achieving optimum performance. Even though seemingly, we don’t do anything when we are sleeping, our body carries out multiple functions that are related to recovery. Studies have repeatedly shown that sleep deprivation results in poor performance, reduced motivation and arousal levels as well as decreased cognitive processes leading to poor attention and concentration (R, R). Sleep allows our bodies to efficiently recover from training and prepare for the following day’s training session or competition event, by promoting hormone activity essential to muscle repair and muscle building.

In order to fully utilise sleep, you should aim to sleep between 7 and 9 hours every night, while going to sleep and waking up around the same time each day. Our hormones operate during our sleep and best promote muscle repair and bone growth when following a normal sleeping routine. If you feel that you didn’t get enough sleep last night, just go ahead and have a nap of around 30 minutes. However, if a nap lasts longer than about 30 minutes, it could make you feel tired and lazy for the remainder of the day, resulting in poor performance. A 30 minute nap, after deprivation of sleep, has been shown to improve alertness as well as mental and physical performance (R).

Tips on Following Optimum Sleeping Patterns:

Try setting an alarm for about the same time every morning.

Try not to engage with or even turn off all devices (smart phone, tv, tablets, etc.) by a certain time every night.

Lie down in bed an hour before you plan on falling asleep.

If you feel you didn’t have a good night’s sleep, take a nap.

Follow a Healthy Lifestyle

Our daily lifestyle choices play a crucial role on how well we recover (or don’t recover) from intense training sessions or workouts. Exercise itself can result in disturbing the body’s normal functions. In addition, external factors may result in increasing fatigue, which in turn, can lead to an increased injury risk. Activities that may add additional stress on the body include trying to do extra workouts, consuming too much food or not enough food as well as not drinking enough water. In addition, emotional stress can lead to decreasing performance, so it’s crucial to live a healthy, happy, and balanced lifestyle.

Tips on Adopting a Healthy Lifestyle:

Eat better quality foods, high in nutrients your body needs.

Drink a lot of water.

Don’t over-exercise or over-train.

Make sure to sleep enough.

Avoid unhealthy habits.

Take vitamins or additional nutrients you may be missing from daily meals.

L-Tyrosine is one of the 12 natural ingredients that have been shown to improve athletic performance and energy levels, as well as boosting mental edge and focus. These are a few of the reasons that we carefully createdFused Reaction™in order to help you naturally boost your focus and alertness, memory and energy levels.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/overtraining-selecting-the-right-mode-to-maximise-recovery2017-11-28T19:35:00+00:002018-01-28T18:51:14+00:00Overtraining – Selecting the Right Mode to Maximise RecoveryMarios Kokolakis
An effective sports performance program can be identified by two key things, athlete availability and athlete durability. It is therefore the responsibility of the athlete to ensure the program is created and followed using the appropriate exercise selection, acute variables, and done in the right environment for adaptation purposes. Appropriate routine progression must also be applied to continually improve the level of athletic performance.

]]>
An effective sports performance program can be identified by two key things, athlete availability and athlete durability. It is therefore the responsibility of the athlete to ensure the program is created and followed using the appropriate exercise selection, acute variables, and done in the right environment for adaptation purposes. Appropriate routine progression must also be applied to continually improve the level of athletic performance.

This means that athletes need to be extremely aware of and use the proper techniques to eliminate factors that may interfere with his or her optimal performance or even worse, cause injury. One thing that may cause this is overtraining.

Overtraining is not exclusive to elite athletes. Any individual engaged in a training program or sport activity may be susceptible to overtraining. This occurs when there is an imbalance in any one or more of the following factors:

Training - Recovery

Exercise - Exercise Capacity

Stress - Stress Tolerance

Overtraining can be explained as excessive frequency, duration, volume, or intensity of training sessions which can lead to our body’s inability to quickly recover and adapt. Overtraining has two major forms: sympathetic and parasympathetic. Understanding how to recognize the differences between the two can aid in selecting the most appropriate recovery modality to support your training.

Sympathetic Overtraining

Sympathetic overtraining is liked with high amounts of anaerobic activity. Sympathetic overtraining can cause unusual restlessness or excitability, disturbed sleep, weight loss, accelerated resting heart rate as well as delayed recovery. An athlete who may be experiencing sympathetic overtraining, he or she would want to employ parasympathetic recovery techniques. This would include activities such as meditation and other relaxation techniques including massage, hot tubs, and deep water floating. Taking a nap during the day is also recommended. In addition, active recovery methods such as light intensity resistance training could be also considered. However, it should be pointed out that any forms of stimulants during this time should be avoided.

Parasympathetic Overtraining

On the other hand, parasympathetic overtraining refers to high volumes or long sessions of aerobic activity. Athletes experiencing this type of overtraining, you would want to focus on sympathetic recovery techniques. For example, low intensity activities are still good options, however you could also increase the recovery program with electric muscle stimulation (EMS), cryotherapy, contrast baths, saunas, or cold water swimming. Symptoms of parasympathetic overtraining may include depression and decreased heart rate in addition to fatigue and decreased performance. Contrary to sympathetic overtraining, individuals suffering from parasympathetic overtraining often have undisturbed sleep, can maintain a constant weight, and have the capacity to recover well from normal training sessions.

Progressive and appropriate training sessions are necessary in order to achieve optimal and improved performance. However, it is also essential to plan for rest and recovery, which is when adaptations occur. Athletes and sports professionals are not entirely confident in preventing injuries from occurring. Nevertheless, they can reduce the risk factors that may prevent them from achieving new peaks of performance while keeping them available to coaches and on-track to their personal performance goals. Appropriately managing of workload as well as proper planning and progression methodologies can significantly the likelihood of setbacks due to overtraining.

Overtraining is something that all athletes should take into consideration when working out or simply giving our best to succeed. This motivation of ours however needs to be supported both mentally and physically by what we eat and how we act. Fused Reaction™includes 12 natural ingredients to help naturally improve focus and alertness while maintaining and supporting energy levels during every activity of the day. Grab yours and attain your goals now!

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/can-tyrosine-improve-athletic-peformance2017-11-12T10:24:00+00:002018-01-28T18:59:32+00:00Can Tyrosine Improve Athletic Peformance?Marios Kokolakis
The supplement market has grown enormously over the past couple of decades. Most of the supplements sold however have little effect on our health and specifically, our athletic performance. No supplement will ever be able to overtake hard work, but there are supplements that when combined with hard work can make you a fitness pro and keep you healthy. One of them, or part of them as their key ingredient, is L-Tyrosine which has been shown to play an important role in sports performance and delivering immense benefits to athletes.

L-tyrosine is an amino acid found mainly in animal products. In specific, eating meat is important to sports performance, not only for its ability build and repair muscle tissue, but also for activating healthy brain chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters.

]]>
The supplement market has grown enormously over the past couple of decades. Most of the supplements sold however have little effect on our health and specifically, our athletic performance. No supplement will ever be able to overtake hard work, but there are supplements that when combined with hard work can make you a fitness pro and keep you healthy. One of them, or part of them as their key ingredient, is L-Tyrosine which has been shown to play an important role in sports performance and delivering immense benefits to athletes.

L-tyrosine is an amino acid found mainly in animal products. In specific, eating meat is important to sports performance, not only for its ability build and repair muscle tissue, but also for activating healthy brain chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters.

In addition, tyrosine is the precursor for our dopamine neurotransmitter. Dopamine plays a critical part in memory, focus, and energy levels; which are all essential to our physical activities especially when competing at a high level. Our dopamine levels can become depleted from poor dietary choices, anxiety, lack of sleep, and other poor lifestyle activities, which may result in impacting our mood, energy, focus, and memory (R).

L-Tyrosine in Sports Performance

Dopamine is also vital to our ability to exercise. In specific, dopamine is a key factor on regulating heart rate, blood pressure, and renal function as well as toning muscle and synthesising protein (R). Physical activity or exercise actually enhances dopamine’s ability to accomplish all of those physiological and bodily processes. Research has shown that there is a 50% decrease in dopamine production in over trained athletes overnight (R). Overtraining may in turn decrease performance and increase injury risk.

Interesting actions have been taken by the military who has been experimenting with tyrosine on soldiers to help them negate the stress and anxiety linked with fighting a war. The relevant research has shown that tyrosine supplements can improve cognitive function by reducing the part stress and fatigue play on memory as well as lowering blood pressure (R). This is as equally important to an athlete as it is to a soldier.

If we think about an athlete at the end of a competition or even the performance of a whole team late in the game, we can see this is the point where most mistakes are made, thus games are won or lost. Cognitive function plays a vital role in how the athlete acts especially at the end of a game. In specific appropriate dopamine levels are essential in cognitive performance of athletes late in a game. Studies have shown that when taking tyrosine supplements, athletes can experience an increase in motor functions as well as cognitive function, even during sleep deprivation (R).

L-Tyrosine Health Benefits

L-Tyrosine is one of the non-essential amino acids and can have physiological effects when further intake is supplemented. It can essentially promote well-being and mood enhancement. It has been even used to help with minor depression symptoms since tyrosine is a nutrient precursor for most of the brain’s dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine (R).

By increasing the signalling of brain neurotransmitters, L-tyrosine can help:

If a L-tyrosine supplement or meal rich in the nutrient is consumed before a workout, it can help improve the intensity of the training session. In addition, it is beneficial for post workout since it can help with recovery of the central nervous system (R).

L-Tyrosine has been shown to improve athletic performance and energy levels as well as boosting mental edge and focus. These are a few of the reasons that we combined L-Tyrosine with another11 ingredientsinto ourFused Reaction™; all to help you naturally boost your focus and alertness, memory and energy levels.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/why-is-rest-and-recovery-important-after-exercise2017-10-15T14:19:00+01:002018-01-28T18:55:07+00:00Why Is Rest and Recovery After Exercise ImportantMarios Kokolakis
Most people that are doing sports or going to the gym know that resting after exercise or a workout session is key to high level performance. The body uses the time between workout sessions to repair and strengthen itself as over-training can have a negative impact to our performance.

Rest days are essential to boosting athletic performance for multiple reasons, both physical and psychological. Proper rest can actually repair, rebuild and strengthen our muscles but at the same time preserve the right balance between personal life, work and athletic/fitness goals.

]]>
Most people that are doing sports or going to the gym know that resting after exercise or a workout session is key to high level performance. The body uses the time between workout sessions to repair and strengthen itself as over-training can have a negative impact to our performance.

Rest days are essential to boosting athletic performance for multiple reasons, both physical and psychological. Proper rest can actually repair, rebuild and strengthen our muscles but at the same time preserve the right balance between personal life, work and athletic/fitness goals.

Why Is Recovery Important?

All training programs, may those be at the gym or pitch, need to include adequate recovery time because this is when the body adapts to the stress of the training. When resting, our body replenishes its energy levels and repairs the damaged muscle tissue. If the time spent on recovering is not sufficient, the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise (R).

Symptoms of overtraining often arise from not getting enough rest. The symptoms may include decreased sports performance, depression or foul mood, fatigue, inability to focus and even a feeling of general illness. There are cases where overtraining or intense athletic events can cause serious injuries.

Types of Recovery

There are two main categories of recovery, short-term and long-term recovery. Short-term recovery means resting right after an intense training session, where long-term recovery means including rest in longer training schedules. The key point here is both are essential for optimal athletic performance.

Short-Term Recovery

Short-term recovery or active recovery happens from the time the intense workout ends until 4 hours after. In specific, this refers to the cool down phase after a hard training session as well as one or two days following it. Both situations are directly associated to improving performance and reducing prolonged fatigue (R).

The benefits of recovering immediately after exercise include replenishing energy levels and fluids that were lost during the training session, as well as helping our muscles increase in size and prevent their breakdown by eating the right nutrients (R). In addition to a proper diet, quality (and plenty of) sleep is key to recovering properly.

Long-Term Recovery

Lon-term recovery refers to days or weeks that are built into a seasonal training program. It is focused on going through a long ‘resting’ period after some serious training that may include changes in workout types, time, distance and all other training variables (R, R). This is quite common to be enforced by coached who want their team try different training routines from time to time in order to improve overall performance.

Insufficient Quality Sleep Can Impact Sports Performance

Consistently getting insufficient sleep can lead to various changes in hormone levels that are associated with stress, muscle recovery and mood.

It’s okay to miss out on one or two good night’s sleep, but if this keeps happening, it will certainly result to some major impact to your speed, power, energy and overall sports performance (R). In specific, research supports that being deprived from quality sleep can lead to:

Cortisol levels (stress hormone) increase

Decrease in the activity of human growth hormone (active during tissue repair)

Combine Exercise With Proper Rest and Recovery

Adapting to intense training and properly recovering from it are the factors that can take an athlete to a higher level of performance (R). High-level athletes need to make sure that they properly rest after an intense training session by appropriate planned recovery.

The first priority out of the gym or pitch is to get enough rest and eat right between workouts. Remember that an extra day or two of rest is more beneficial to the body than an extra day or two of training sessions. When tired, listen to your body and take a day off. And during that day make sure to feed it properly.

Proper resting is essential not only to people doing sports but also anyone who wants to perform at optimum levels. Regardless of the activity you are passionate about, remember to get sufficient rest and eat well in-between workout sessions. Our Fused Reaction™brain supplement and its 100% Natural Ingredients can help you fight fatigue and exhaustion at all times. Boost your performance now!

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/9-ways-to-increase-your-stamina2017-10-13T19:59:00+01:002018-01-28T19:11:44+00:009 Ways to Increase your StaminaMarios Kokolakis
Do you feel tired after a few minutes of running? Do you feel worn-out after half or an hour of training? Increasing your stamina or endurance is an important asset to a healthy lifestyle as it can help you improve your metabolic rate, lower heart rate and blood pressure as well as burn fat. In addition to its health benefits though, stamina is essential for an efficient performance and can make you better as a player, martial arts fighter or fitness enthusiast.

Regardless of the sport you play, may that be football, tennis, MMA or even going to the gym, one thing is for certain, you will always need excellent stamina levels.

]]>
Do you feel tired after a few minutes of running? Do you feel worn-out after half or an hour of training? Increasing your stamina or endurance is an important asset to a healthy lifestyle as it can help you improve your metabolic rate, lower heart rate and blood pressure as well as burn fat. In addition to its health benefits though, stamina is essential for an efficient performance and can make you better as a player, martial arts fighter or fitness enthusiast.

Regardless of the sport you play, may that be football, tennis, MMA or even going to the gym, one thing is for certain, you will always need excellent stamina levels.

Generally speaking, stamina is defined as the ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort. We all have two types of skeletal muscle fibers: slow-twitch (type I) and fast-twitch (type II). Slow-twitch muscles contribute to long activities that need endurance such as distance running, where fast-twitch muscles get tired faster but are used in powerful movement bursts like sprinting (R).

Even though we are not able to fully change the ratio between fast and slow twitch fibers in our muscles, we can however make them work more efficiently to increase our stamina in whatever activity we undertake.

Long distance running and cycling based exercises are not the only factors to improving stamina. They indeed contribute to building your endurance, but your strength would also need to become better in order to see great results. All the key ingredients to building your stamina levels are shown below with some tips included.

Perform Fast-Paced Activities to your Training

Fast-paced exercises are great to include in your training session as they use a lot of energy and challenge both your strength and stamina at the same time. Once you start performing explosive types of exercise, you will notice a major difference in your movements’ speed.

Jump training or plyometrics as it’s called are excellent for your training sessions. Combining stretching and contraction of your muscles form jumps and squats can significantly increase your stamina, as the power needed to complete these movements improves your overall strength. Different variations like box jumps, burpees or frog squat jumps can further integrated to your session and improve your endurance.

Choose Exercises that Combine Multiple Muscle Groups

Composite or complex movements like squats, step-ups, press-ups or even pull-ups, use more than one muscle areas, thus can improve your stamina quicker than isolated exercises. What this means is that the more muscles you use at the same time, the more your cardiovascular system will work, which in will in turn improve your endurance levels (R).

If weight lifting or weight training isn’t your thing though, try cross-training as it is great for mixing different muscle groups. Cross training or circuit training, as it’s also called, combines exercises of different nature, excluding weight training, like swimming, jogging and cycling.

One of the best examples of aerobic exercise is swimming. Due to the fact that water provides 12 to 15% resistance (compared to air), a numbers of muscles need to work harder and at the same time. This exercise can relax muscles, increase flexibility as well as enable stretching(R).

Combine Strength and Cardio Sessions

Most people tend to do strength workouts on one day and cardio on another. Why not mix the two during the same training session? Doing a strength training session will not only increase your muscle mass but it will also improve your metabolism and subsequently, your stamina.

Becoming stronger will make you feel your body lighter and will be able to control your movements more efficiently by using less oxygen. Squats and lunges could be introduced as warm ups which will improve the strength in your legs and allow you to have more energy for fast paced bursts or even sprints. Ending the whole session with 20 to 30 minutes cardio will make your future 90 minutes run feel like a walk in the park.

Stretching is Important

Even though you are most probably doing it already, there are occasions where one may don’t have the time or simply not feeling like stretching before or after a training session.

Regular stretching can help your skeletal muscle fibre to better recover as well as promote muscle strength and growth which leads to longer sessions of training.

Try stretching your entire body both after warming up and after your workouts. There multiple different stretches you can do but they can all be separated into two main groups, static and dynamic. With static being done without movement and dynamic with movement, consider both for any kind of sport or active activity you are doing.

Change your Routine Frequently

Every two or three weeks’ time, your body will become familiar your regular training routine. What this means is that you will perform exercises easier without gaining as much power, speed etc. as you would if you changed the routine every once in a while. In other words, remember to alternate the ways in which you use your muscles in order to avoid overuse and at the same time build less used muscles.

If you are doing weight lifting sessions for 60 minutes, why not try switching to cycling or running to really challenge your muscles? It will also have a great impact on your motivation as doing the same things over and over again may become quite boring.

Drink Lots of Water

Exercises for long periods of time will make you lose lots of fluid (approx. one litre per hour) so make sure to drink large amounts of water which will also contribute to increasing your endurance.

Drinking water is like fuel to all your muscles. Drinking before, during and after a workout can significantly improve your energy levels which at the same time refers to building up endurance. You can see it for yourself; not drinking enough water during the day or even around a workout session, can dramatically affect your performance.

Nutrition Is Key

A healthy and balanced diet is essential for everyone, but athletes or sport players who want to improve their skills and keep going for longer need to be careful about what they eat.

Foods containing carbs, protein, fiber and Vitamin B complex (incl. Vitamin C) will maintain your energy for longer while aiding in building your stamina. The key point when following a balanced diet is to be informed about what you eat and how every nutrient can benefit your metabolism and performance. Different foods that can help you increase your stamina levels include Oatmeal, Chicken, Fish, Eggs, Bananas and Avocados.

Rest

As with any other activity in life, when it comes to sports and exercise, rest is important not only for a quick recovery but also for increasing your endurance.

There can be two important types of rest, the one occurring after the training session, e.g. sleep, and the other one in-between exercises or fitness sessions. In order to feel energetic and active throughout the day and training session, you need to sleep properly; missing out on hours of sleep will certainly cause fatigue and tiredness the next day.

At the same time when training, your body needs to become familiar with quick recovery between exercises. What this means is that reducing your rest time between exercises significantly increases your body’s ability to recover, thus build up stamina. When lifting weights for example, consider reducing the rest between each set by 10 to 30 seconds. Doing this will give a boost to both your cardiovascular system and metabolic rate resulting in longer sessions of training.

Remember to always rest properly, but when training, always push yourself to your limits. If you start a 30 minutes run why not extend it to 40 instead. Make sure to increase your workload and difficulty level of your training as well as rest after it.

Improving your stamina and endurance is a difficult task, both mentally and physically. Proper dedication, motivation and focus is needed during the whole journey. Our Fused Reaction™brain supplement and its 100% Natural Ingredients can not only improve your stamina and power but also increase the focus and motivation you need to achieve your goals.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/9-daily-habits-to-improve-your-reaction-speed2017-10-09T14:17:00+01:002018-01-28T19:16:03+00:009 Daily Habits to Improve your Reaction SpeedMarios Kokolakis
Did you go through a reaction test and the results were as good as you would expect? Or do you feel you reaction around others is slower than it should be? Not to worry! We can help! In this blog, we have compiled all the daily habits you can follow to help you improve your reaction speed and response times may that be for training or social purposes. Improving your reaction time can be easier than you think, especially when you are determined in achieving it.

]]>
Did you go through a reaction speed test and the results were as good as you would expect? Or do you feel your reaction around others is slower than it should be? Not to worry! We can help! In this blog, we have compiled all the daily habits you can follow to help you improve your reaction speed and response times may that be for training or social purposes. Improving your reaction time can be easier than you think, especially when you are determined in achieving it.

Sleep

One of the easiest and sometime most efficient ways to boost your response times and concentration is to get enough sleep! Sleeping only for a few hours per day can make you feel sluggish and tired the next while hindering your ability to react fast. Have you ever tried to take a reaction test when feeling sleepy? We are sure the results will be much different when compared to when you had a good night’s sleep.Recent studies where healthy subjects have been partially or totally deprived from sleep, levels of fatigue and sleepiness increased. In addition, individuals whose sleep has been restricted in duration (for example, reduced from 8 to 4 hours) over several days sleepiness and fatigue increased with each day of accumulated sleep loss. So, make sure to always get a full night’s sleep (R).

Eat Healthy

Now, you may ask, what does food have to do with my reaction speed or response times? Well, more than you may think. Following a healthy diet and eating the right foods, can actually help you improve your focus and reaction! There are several studies demonstrating that (among many others) fats like Omega-3 and Omega 6, most commonly found in fish, can help you improve your cognitive performance, accuracy and reaction time!

Stay away from Alcohol and Drugs

Stop with the drinking, either that may be in small or excessive quantities! Alcohol not only has many ‘unhealthy’ calories but it also acts as a depressant that prevents your body to operate at an optimum level. Even though it may seem that alcohol improves your mood and cognition while under the effects, that is totally not the case. Not only we don’t realise the reality of situation when drinking, but also the future negative effects are too big to neglect. The day (or even a few) days after alcohol intake, can significantly decrease your concentration and reaction speed. In many cases, prolonged drinking can even hinder your response times permanently! As you would expect, drugs have the same effect (R).

Drink Coffee or Green Tea

This does not mean to drink coffee until the point you get addicted. If you are not a coffee drinker, even a small amount of caffeine can do wonders to the efficiency of your responses. Both caffeine found in coffee and L-Theanine found in green tea will act as a stimulant in your body and at the same time decrease the time you take to react.

Exercise and Stay Fit

Staying in shape will help you maintain total control over your motor skills which means that it will help you keep the full functionality of your body. The more you train and exercise, the more your movements’ reaction will improve.

If your goal is to increase response times for a specific activity or movement, practicing will only help you achieve that! The more you practise the same move, swinging the baseball bat for example, the better and quicker you will become. It was Bruce Lee who said “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practised one kick 10,000 times” (R).

Practice

This is the little brother to the above, e.g. practising the same move or activity multiple times. Once you practice an activity enough, you can start learning to anticipate what is going to happen next. By understanding the flow of movements or actions within an activity, you gain an advantage in reacting quickly and effectively. Anticipating means that you can try keeping your body and senses relaxed while letting your subconscious take care of the reaction for you. This will greatly improve your reaction time!

Improve Focus and Hand Eye Coordination

One of the best and most efficient ways to improve your response times is by improving your general focus and hand-eye coordination. Being able to quickly focus and see the cues during an activity, instantly means your ability to be able to quickly react to them.

Take Fused Reaction™

Taking 2 capsules of Fused Reaction™ daily will help you concentrate, focus and react faster to cues of any kind. Whatever the sport you are passionate about or move you want to improve on, Fused Reaction™ will help you achieve it. Numerous studies have shown that the natural ingredients found in the formula have the ability to improve overall cognitive performance, increase focus and boost reaction speed. Get better now and make your dreams of success a reality!

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/hiit-health-benefits2017-09-09T17:53:00+01:002018-12-09T23:01:51+00:006 Amazing Health Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)Marios Kokolakis
HIIT has become quite popular in the past decade with more and more people trying out the fitness routine day by day. Some people do it to further improve their physique where some others because they are simply trying to get active. Independently of your reasons high-intensity interval training can deliver some outstanding results with a short time of exercise.

In broader terms, HIIT refers to workouts that include short period of intense exercise alternated with recovery periods. What this means is that you simply push yourself for a few seconds, rest for another few and the same again.

HIIT training has actually been proven to deliver maximal health benefits in minimal time and especially when the same routing is followed on a regular basis.

]]>
HIIT has become quite popular in the past decade with more and more people trying out the fitness routine day by day. Some people do it to further improve their physique where some others because they are simply trying to get active.

Independently of your reasons for working out, high-intensity interval training can deliver some outstanding results with a relatively small amount of exercise.

In broader terms, HIIT refers to workouts that include short period of intense exercise alternated with recovery periods. What this means is that you simply push yourself for a few seconds, rest for another few and the same again.

HIIT training has actually been proven to deliver maximal health benefits in minimal time and especially when the same routing is followed on a regular basis.

What Is High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)?

HIIT refers to short bursts of intense exercise alternated with low-intensity recovery periods.

Recent studies have considered HIIT as the most time-efficient way to exercise, meaning producing great results in a very short time.

The duration of an excellent HIIT workout will range from 10 to 20 minutes; if you want to push yourself even further or take your physique a level higher, you may want to consider extending it slightly more.

The truth however is that no matter how short the duration of the workout is, it can actually produce health benefits similar to twice as much exercise at a moderate intensity.

The activity itself can vary from stamina building sports like sprinting, biking, cycling to body and weight exercises.

For example, a HIIT workout using a treadmill could involve 30 seconds of running as fast as possible (sprinting), followed by a minute of slow paced walking. This would refer to one ‘repetition’ of HIIT and you would typically complete 5 to 10 repetitions in one session. If you want to push yourself even further, you can always another exercise using light weights.

Try not to be hung up on the amount of time you exercise and recover though, as this may vary based on the exercise you choose and how intensely you are trying.

The main thing to have in mind is that high intensity intervals should include short periods of strong exercise that make the heart speed up.

This kind of exercise will not only provide the same physical benefits as a longer-duration exercise (in a much shorter period of time) but also some exceptional health benefits.

Let's see the 6 amazing health benefits HIIT can deliver to our body.

6 Health Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

1. HIIT Can Burn a Lot of Calories in a Short Amount of Time

HIIT burns calories quickly!

A recent study compared the amount of calories burned from a 30 minute HIIT training, running and biking. During the HIIT training, the participants were putting maximal effort for 20 seconds and rested for 40, leading to an amazing burn of 25–30% of more calories when compared to the other forms of exercise. In other words, everyone exercised for 1/3 of the time that the other groups did (R).

Key Point:HIIT will help you burn more calories than moderate-intensity exercise and burn the same amount of calories in a shorter period.

2. HIIT Increases Your Metabolism for Hours After Exercise

One of the best ways HIIT can help you burn calories is after the workout session.

Multiple studies have shown that HIIT has the ability to improve your metabolic rate for several hours after done exercising. In addition, it was also seen that HIIT can ‘direct’ the body’s metabolism towards (using) fat for energy rather than carbohydrates (R, R).

Key Point:HIIT can increase your metabolic rate for hours after the training session which means that calories burn even after you are done exercising.

3. HIIT Helps You Gain Muscle

Not only HIIT can help you quickly lose fat, but will also make your muscles increase in mass.

The muscle areas that will be most affected are the ones that are used the most during the exercise; legs in cycling exercise for example. This has greater effect though on individuals that well less active before beginning doing HIIT (R, R).

Key Point:The less active you are, the more muscle you will gain by doing HIIT on a regular basis.

Key Point:HIIT is deemed to be beneficial to individuals that need to reduce their blood sugar and insulin resistance. These benefits apply to both healthy and diabetic individuals.

6. HIIT Improves Oxygen Consumption

Oxygen consumption means that your body muscles and brain can effectively use oxygen. In other words, high-intensity training promotes healthy functioning of the brain and body muscles, resulting in a healthy body and mind.

According to several studies, HIIIT can deliver the same benefits in a much shorter time period. In specific, studies showed that HIIT workouts done for five to eight weeks (a few days per week), improved oxygen consumption by between 10 to 25% in exactly half the time of training (R).

Key Point:HIIT training can improve the amount of oxygen consumed by your muscles as much as normal endurance training, with half the time spent on the exercise.

Take Away Message

To recap, these are the 6 unique health benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training:

HIIT Can Burn a Lot of Calories in a Short Amount of Time

HIIT Increases Your Metabolism for Hours After Exercise

HIIT Helps You Gain Muscle

HIIT Reduces Heart Rate and Blood Pressure

HIIT Reduces Blood Sugar

HIIT Improves Oxygen Consumption

How has HIIT helped you improve your life? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

About the Author

Marios Kokolakis is the Content Manager at BrainSharp. His goal? To motivate and help people live a healthier and happier life by sharing his passion for fitness and nutrition, and igniting the inner spark to achieving life goals.

]]>
https://brain-sharp.com/blogs/fitness/master-your-response-times-with-7-simple-routine-suggestions2017-08-26T20:57:00+01:002018-01-27T11:37:29+00:00How to Improve your Response Times with 7 Simple SuggestionsMarios Kokolakis
The difference between .2 and .4 of a second in reaction speed is what may decide the champion. All sports and healthy activities require agility, quick judgment and a muscular response to certain factors. A football player will need to quickly estimate his opponent’s next move and dribble accordingly; a MMA fighter will defend and counter attack instantly after being hit; a tennis player will anticipate the ball’s course and move his or her posture accordingly. Independently of the sport, clarity of mind, focus on the game and quick momentum are a must for anyone that wants win, or even better become the champion.

How can someone minimise the speed they react to different stimulus?

Reaction time itself is a natural ability, but overall response time can be improved by repetitive practice. Athletes need to examine the type of skill they want to master and decide upon the movements or series of movements they want to speed up.

]]>
The difference between .2 and .4 of a second in reaction speed is what may decide the champion. All sports and healthy activities require agility, quick judgment and a muscular response to certain factors. A football player will need to quickly estimate his opponent’s next move and dribble accordingly; a MMA fighter will defend and counter attack instantly after being hit; a tennis player will anticipate the ball’s course and move his or her posture accordingly. Independently of the sport, clarity of mind, focus on the game and quick momentum are a must for anyone that wants win, or even better become the champion.

IncreaseThe Speed of Reaction toDifferent Stimulus

Reaction time itself is a natural ability, but overall response time can be improved by repetitive practice. Athletes need to examine the type of skill they want to master and decide upon the movements or series of movements they want to speed up (R, R, R).

Consider adding all of the following suggestions to your everyday day routine; they will help you master your movements and excel in what you are set out to do:

Practice in detecting and anticipating the signs - in a sprint start for example, the sprinter should focus on the starter's voice and the sound of the gun while separating these from background crowd noise.

Understand and predict relevant signs - a goalkeeper may want to learn how to analyse body language at penalties.

Improve your decision making – a fighter may have to practise defending all combos that follow a specific hit.

Practice the change in attention focus – a football play will need to able to switch quickly from concentration on the opponent to concentration on the field of play.

Learn how to control your stress and anxiety – stress and anxiety are major factors for reducing reaction times as lack in clarity of thought can negatively impact the body’s movements.

Stay focused and motivated – nothing will help you more than sheer dedication and motivation to win. Think as a winner, become a winner.

Don’t forget to warm up – your sense organs and nervous system will be ready to transmit information and the muscles to quickly act upon it.

Take 2 capsules of Fused Reaction™ daily – one capsule in the morning and one before training will help you stay focused and motivated, giving you clarity of mind and staying at the top of your game.

Reaction Speed Drills to Improve Reaction Times

There are certain reaction speed drills categorised by the nature of the sport that can help athletes improve their reaction time to a stimulus. The drills may cover the control of an object (e.g. football or hockey puck) where the signal for the reaction to happen can be visual (e.g. movement of an object) or a specific sound (e.g. voice or starter’s gun). The following examples are reaction speed drills categorised by the nature of the sport and can by worked on to improve reaction times to an external stimulus.

Applicable to any event or sport where pure speed over the ground is important

Starting position

Lying on the ground on their back or front

Command

Voice or sound

Action

To get up and sprint 20 meter to 30 meter to a specific point

Notes

The relevant point could be the coach who moves from place to place so that the athlete only has the sound of the coach to initially identify where the coach is positioned.

For sports where the athlete wants to get better at controlling a ball

Starting position

Slow running controlling the ball

Command

Voice command of “left”, “right”, “back” or “forward”

Action

To sprint in the direction of the voice for a specific distance, while controlling the ball, and then return to slow running

Notes

Repeat the drill for 5 to 7 times and then go back to the starting point to pass the ball to the next athlete.

For sprinters that want to improve their reaction to the starting gun

Starting position

Standing tall and relaxed

Command

Blow whistle or clap hands – this should happen from behind the athlete

Action

Try performing all of the following together:

Quickly bring the right knee up to a position where the thigh is parallel with the ground, the lower leg is vertical to the ground and the foot is flexed

The arms are brought to the sprint position

The athlete rises up onto the toes of the left foot

Notes

The right foot would need to be placed in the rear block of the starting blocks on a sprint start; if it is the left foot then change the leg action above

For sports where a ball is in play

Starting position

Use a static position which can be standing, sitting or lying down

Command

Coach stands in front of the athlete dropping a ball from shoulder height

Action

Sprint and catch the ball before it bounces for the second time

Notes

Need to adjust where the coach stands to make the exercise most difficult and most effective. The further away the athlete is, the better.

Improving reaction speed and focus may sometimes be a difficult thing to accomplish. If there is a goal we want to achieve or even get better at focusing on the right things, crystal clear focus and strong motivation are essential to our everyday activities. Improve your focus, concentration and attention span with our natural brain supplement, Fused Reaction™, which was scientifically designed to deliver powerful cognitive performance and excellent athletic performance.